When Chaska’s existing 8,000 square foot police department was constructed as part of the City Hall building in 1987, the department had 11 sworn officers and two support staff for the city’s 10,000 residents. Today, Chaska’s population has grown to just under 30,000 and the police department has grown to 31 sworn officers and nine support staff, all of which still operate in that same 8,000 square feet.

“It should be at 35,000 square feet,” said Chaska City Administrator Matt Podhradsky. 

“This has created a very undersized and outdated space,” said Chaska Police Chief Ryan Seibert.

“The police operate out of a match box practically at this point,” said Mayor Taylor Hubbard.  

The countdown to a larger space is underway as the city embarks on the construction of a new $48 million public safety facility that will house both Chaska’s police and fire departments. The project is expected to wrap up later this year.

The nearly 100,000 square foot facility will be located on Engler Boulevard west of Highway 41 on the site of the fire station that was demolished last year to make way for the new construction. Although the city initially planned to remodel and add space for the police to the fire station, analysis of the building revealed that the footings on the foundations, specifically over the equipment bays, were not built to support a second floor. 

The cost difference between adding on to the building and constructing new was $400,000, less than 1 percent of the total project estimates and thus the council opted to move ahead with a new facility. The impact of the project on taxpayers is currently estimated at $23.25 a month for a $390,000 home. 

“I know it’s jarring to see a 29-year-old fire department torn down,” acknowledged Hubbard, “but it’s not about having a shiny new building. It helps give them the tools to be better and do more. We’re a growing community and they’ll be ready to respond to those needs.”

POLICE

For the Chaska Police Department, the new public safety facility will provide the much-needed space required to respond to the 13,000 annual calls for service. In the current location, space is at a premium. Seibert noted challenges like four patrol sergeants and the patrol lieutenant sharing one office, a lack of evidence processing and storage space and an undersized lobby that doesn’t afford privacy to crime victims.  

The current department also does not have a secure detention facility to house detainees before they are transported to the Carver County Jail. And with garage parking for only two vehicles, the majority of the police department’s fleet must be parked outside in an unsecured area. 

The new facility will offer the police 29 underground parking stalls and storage beneath the 28,000 square foot department. In addition to plenty of office space, the department will feature a booking area with three detention cells, including a juvenile cell. There will be a briefing room and a fitness area as well as ample evidence processing and storage space. 

Seibert said they are looking forward to having an “employee-centered” facility designed to make the job of staff easier. “For instance, we have looked at how accessibility from locker rooms to squad cars and other equipment, and from office space have been positioned to ensure our staff are best positioned to serve the community and respond to emergencies,” he said. 

“The space will ensure we can adequately grow to serve the needs of our community, while also ensuring staff development and retention,” he added.

That includes a dedicated women’s locker room, something Hubbard, for one, is happy to see in the plans. “It’s important that we have a space for women and that they feel welcomed,” she said. 

FIRE

For the Chaska Fire Department, the new facility will mean that the volunteer department can move to a 24-7 duty crew model. “That brings their level of service up to a high level,” said Podhradsky. “They can respond directly from the station.” 

Currently, Chaska Fire operates under a duty crew model from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the weekends. “We’re missing the overnight piece,” Podhradsky explained. 

The new facility includes 7,000 square feet of duty crew living space upstairs and will provide crew members with a place to sleep, clean up and make meals. 

“For departments like ours, the ability to staff firefighters overnight at the station will lead to a 7 to 12 minute reduction in response time for the initial arriving crew,” said Chaska Fire Chief Stephen Kraus. “Currently during overnight hours, firefighters are responding from their homes to the fire station to get on the trucks and then to the emergency. Considering that a free-burning fire doubles in size every minute and anoxic brain injuries begin after approximately four minutes with no oxygen, this reduction in response time will have a huge impact on the service Chaska Fire is able to provide not only on our most difficult calls, but all of our calls for service.”

“It’s a window of time where we can really make a difference,” said Podhradsky.

Podhradsky said that duty shifts are a good selling point when it comes to recruiting because it offers potential volunteers a more reliable schedule. “It helps us keep volunteers in place for a longer period of time,” he said. 

The new facility will also include a three-story fire training hose tower. 

“They’ll be able to more efficiently do training,” said Podhradsky. “The training tower lets them do things like hose testing and mock deck setups.” Having on-site training for both the fire and police is a huge benefit of the new building. 

Kraus is also looking forward to the addition of a special decontamination area for the fire station. 

“Our improved abilities to properly clean and decontaminate firefighters after exposures to carcinogens at fires and HAZMAT calls is one of the biggest improvements in our new facility,” he said. “Firefighters will have the ability to clean equipment, trucks, hoses, their gear and even shower after calls in a special decontamination area of the station. The flow of our decontamination area will greatly reduce the risk of cross-contamination into other parts of the station. All these elements add up to help Chaska Fire reduce the overall cancer risk facing our firefighters.”

Hubbard applauds that addition. “I want to ensure when someone signs up to protect our community, we do everything we can to take care of them,” she said. 

FOR THE PUBLIC

The public safety facility will allow the public more opportunities to interact with the fire and police departments as well. With several meeting rooms on site, both police and fire can enhance their connections to the community, whether it’s during open house events or more structured opportunities like the citizen’s academy. 

“We are most interested in how the building has been designed to accommodate the many forms of community engagement we perform each year,” said Seibert. “Our staff will be able to invite the public into the new facility for our citizen’s academy and many other programs.”

With the building’s roof now in place, much of the work left will take place inside. The project is on track for completion in December, Podhradsky said. 

“The new public safety facility will greatly increase our ability to serve the community based on today’s expectations and those of the future,” said Seibert. 

“This is going to be something that will serve our community now and will grow with us,” said Hubbard.